Road trip!

Sunfire96

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Here are some photos from my current cross country trip!
Started in Sonoma County (grape vineyards and rolling green/burnt hills)
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Next up is Donner Summit above Donner Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains, site of the infamous Donner party expedition of the mid-1800s. Gorgeous pine trees and snow-fed ponds, elevation about 7000'. And we had plenty of snacks!!
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And less than an hour away from the lush mountains, we were in the Great Basin desert of Nevada. I forgot to take pictures of the flat boring parts because I was too busy trying to keep my eyes open :D The hilly portions were nice to drive through though. Northern Nevada was experiencing a 100' F heatwave while we were there, thank goodness for A/C!
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Agree. Keep those awesome pictures coming!
 
You guys rocking some tunes on the road?
 
Thanks for the pictures, seems like you have had nothing but sun and blue skies so far! That will all change in Virginia!
Safe travels @Sunfire96, long hours behind the wheel, keep an eye on each other, and call each other if you are feeling weary.
 
Thanks for the pictures, seems like you have had nothing but sun and blue skies so far! That will all change in Virginia!
Safe travels @Sunfire96, long hours behind the wheel, keep an eye on each other, and call each other if you are feeling weary.
We have walkie talkies :D not our first rodeo (or cross country drive in 2 cars)
 
Woohoo Roadtrippin very cool Sunfire what variety in the scenery of the country your driving through.
What s the road houses like (if that's what you call em) you know the "gas stations" With all the greasy trucker food:D.

Roll on Sunfire!

Oh and where s da animals there's gotta be birds and cows and stuff in them paddocks eagles even?
But I suppose this ain't a tourist drive your on your on a.misson
 
Woohoo Roadtrippin very cool Sunfire what variety in the scenery of the country your driving through.
What s the road houses like (if that's what you call em) you know the "gas stations" With all the greasy trucker food:D.

Roll on Sunfire!

Oh and where s da animals there's gotta be birds and cows and stuff in them paddocks eagles even?
But I suppose this ain't a tourist drive your on your on a.misson
We saw lots of wildlife in the first half, then we hit Nebraska and it's all been roadkill raccoons, coyotes, and deer :(

This part of the country doesn't have natural ecosystems anymore; it was all turned into farms and agriculture. There should be thousands of bison in these fields (incorrectly called buffalo), but they were almost completely eradicated a hundred years ago.

As far as gas stations...some of them are great! Clean bathrooms and decent hot food, buuuuuut most of them are sketchy and gross and make you not want to touch anything :/ oh well, they have the cheapest gas in this part of the country too (lowest I've seen was $2.76/gallon)

My favorite parts of the trip so far have been seeing wild pronghorn in their natural habitats in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. They are colloquially (and incorrectly) called antelope. They are cousins to true antelope, but are actually unique and have their own genus/classification among the bovidae family.

Fun fact! As children, most Americans are taught a song with the line, "Give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play," and it's referencing the Wild West states in the U.S. But in reality, since we don't actually have buffalo or antelope (we have bison and pronghorn), the only place on Earth where that would occur is in Asia :D

Here's what a pronghorn looks like:
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Deer shed their antlers every year and regrow new ones for the next breeding season. Antelope have boney horns covered in a keratin sheathe that are permanent and won't regrow if damaged. But pronghorn will shed and regrow their keratin sheathes only, while the boney horn stays permanent, it's wild!! And this is why they are not antelope. A truly unique American animal :D Cheers Ben!
 
This is from a Google search on the annihilation of the Bison

Between 1872 and 1873 over three million buffalo were killed. The reason was purely economic, but the result was to destroy the basis of the way of life of the peoples who inhabited the area where the annihilation took place
 
This is from a Google search on the annihilation of the Bison

Between 1872 and 1873 over three million buffalo were killed. The reason was purely economic, but the result was to destroy the basis of the way of life of the peoples who inhabited the area where the annihilation took place
One of the attempts to eliminate the First Nation's tribes' way of life. Wetlands drained, prairies converted to farmland, seasonal (and necessary) wildfires no longer allowed. Don't get me wrong, I love corn and grains (especially barley :)) but this part of the country is depressing to travel through.
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Wouldn't the pronghorns be more correctly called Can'telope? :rolleyes:

Europeans are often astounded at just how large the USA is. And just how flat some of it is...
 
One of the attempts to eliminate the First Nation's tribes' way of life. Wetlands drained, prairies converted to farmland, seasonal (and necessary) wildfires no longer allowed. Don't get me wrong, I love corn and grains (especially barley :)) but this part of the country is depressing to travel through. View attachment 16095
Holly Molly :eek::eek::eek:! I never knew this.
 
Holly Molly :eek::eek::eek:! I never knew this.
They don't teach this in history classes, not even here in the US. Not trying to take this into a political conversation but in the last couple decades some states have made efforts to teach a more accurate history only to be met by a recent commission created by the last presidential administration with the purpose of continuing and reinforcing the white-washing of history.

Now that I'm off my soapbox there's really nothing worth seeing between the Rockies and the Mississippi and even then not much worth seeing north of the Ohio river till you hit Pennsylvania. It's all just farmland...
 
One of the world's worst jobs: Nebraska tourism office... Hard to believe they advertise here in Colorado.
If you've seen the 30 for 30 film The Gospel According to Mac about Bill McCartney and the Colorado Buffaloes of the early 90s he talked about how he wanted to recruit the same guys Nebraska was recruiting because he knew that if he could get them to come for a visit he had them. "I can sell Boulder over Lincoln"
Who in their right mind would want to live in Nebraska after being to Colorado?
 

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